


Santa Tell Me

by advo



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Christmas, Engagement, Fluff, M/M, Mistletoe, Mutual Pining, i love having motivation around holidays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-22 00:08:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13154967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/advo/pseuds/advo
Summary: Five Christmases can change a lot





	Santa Tell Me

First Christmas

Lance hated everything about Christmas on the castleship. It wasn’t his mom’s house, for one. The other paladins weren’t his cousin and, while he fit the bill quite well, Coran was not his bound-to-be-drunk-by-noon uncle. He’d grudgingly gotten everyone gifts, though they didn’t have meaning in the least. They were all just random trinkets from markets on various planets they’d visited, wrapped lazily in flimsy paper. Why did everyone have to act like he’d gotten them some expensive, personalized shit? God, how they could be acting like this he didn’t understand. They all had families too – except maybe Keith, and definitely Allura and Coran. Why did he feel like he was the only one who cared that their families were on earth celebrating the holiday without them? Didn’t they care that their families were probably missing them? Hell, Pidge’s mom was all alone, her husband and two children fighting a war that wasn’t theirs to fight.

The only thing Lance could count as a positive for the first Christmas with Team Voltron was seeing Keith smile genuinely. Had no one ever given the guy a gift before? Lance had only gotten him a shiny rock, probably not actually worth money, that shifted from red to yellow depending on the lighting. Keith stared at it like he was seeing the sun for the first time, and then his violet eyes shifted to Lance and – no homo or anything, but Lance felt his stomach in his chest. You know like when you’re on a roller-coaster, and you go over a hill and you just feel your stomach jump up? It’s not a bad feeling, by far, and Lance decides without delay that he’s going to seek that feeling wherever he can get it.

* * *

 

Second Christmas

The universe is in a state of neutrality, so Lance wonders why exactly Team Voltron is still in space. ‘Precaution’ Shiro tells him. ‘It’s just a safe guard.’ A safe guard against what? The Galra empire has been defeated and placed under new rule – a peaceful rule. Everyone knows of Voltron’s power, so what’s the likelihood of anyone trying to pull a Zarkon? It infuriates Lance to no ends, but his little space family could be worse holiday companions. He and Keith have been getting along a lot better lately, though Keith is gone training with the Blade more frequently than Lance would like. Pidge has Matt – someone Lance can get along with quite well also. He and Hunk are of course still best friends, and Allura and Coran have become his space sister and uncle. It’s a good family, even though it’s not the one he hoped to spend Christmas with.

Thank the lord above that the Blade let Keith have a few weeks of peace around the holiday, allowing a very festive time on the castleship. Altean decorations are something to be envied, and much more practical than earth decorations. Self-adhesive strips of lights? All it took was Pidge on Shiro’s shoulders, pressing the string to the wall and bam! Beautiful coloured bulbs surrounded the common room. They didn’t have a real tree this year, given that no one wanted to deal with cutting down an alien plant and the fight over who would do it was… intense. Instead, a blue hologram of a tree spun slowly in the center of the room, twinkling slightly. Presents accumulated over the weeks leading up to Christmas, each wrapped in signature wrapping paper based on the giver. The colours of the Lions for the Paladins, Orange for Coran, Pink for Allura, and a nice tan colour for Matt. It was a beautiful Christmas that year. Lance knit everyone custom Christmas sweaters – his own said ‘I am the gift’ – which received a large amount of praise. His goal of feeling the same way as the first Christmas was achieved when Keith opened his second gift – he was the only paladin who received two gifts from Lance. As he turned over the small wooden figure in his hand, Lance fidgeted nervously. Did he like it? Carving a tiny version of Red had taken a lot of time, after all. He really hoped Keith would –

Keith was hugging him. It was… hard to process, for starters. Lance knew his face was red and could assure anyone who asked that he was trying to stop it but he was so focused on the feeling of his stomach beside his heart once more that he just couldn’t control it. He heard, though didn’t exactly register, a slight ‘aw’ from Allura which thankfully returned him to reality. “You like it?” he asked quietly, thankful that Keith’s ear was close to his mouth since he wasn’t sure he could raise his voice much higher than he’d managed to. Keith nodded silently, his grasp on Lance tightening before he released and, instead of returning to his original spot, planted himself beside Lance. They weren’t close enough to touch, but Lance could feel the warmth radiating from Keith. He wondered if Keith was extra warm because of his Galra DNA or something else entirely.

* * *

 

Third Christmas

For the first time since coming to space, Christmas wasn’t a sad time for Lance. While he wouldn’t be home for the holiday, the paladins had made a trip to earth to visit their families before heading off again and – knowing that his family knew he was alive – Lance felt at peace. Being on earth briefly had a few perks. The first being his family, of course. The second was the ability to collect earth-sourced gifts for the upcoming Christmas season – no more good-but-not-great alien market gifts. The third was the current subject of his attention – a small bundle of mistletoe attached to a dainty red string. He was using he paladin armor despite being inside the safety of the castle because the armor featured jet propulsion and, since he intended for the mistletoe to be a surprise, he couldn’t just ask for help hanging the thing. It would hang perfectly in the doorway to the common room – for his own entertainment since groups often entered all at once.

The first victim was Pidge who noticed a moment too late that Lance’s eyes were fixed to the ceiling even though they were walking beside each other. She quite begrudgingly gave him a short pec on the cheek, but the action reminded him of his little sister and filled him with affection for the short paladin. He massaged her shoulders while she coded as an apology.

The next victims were Shiro and – to his disappointment – Slav. Slav immediately began spouting facts about mistletoe while Shiro quickly kissed the top of the aliens head. Slav… didn’t seem to notice and continued with his day.

Lance was played the fool when he forgot about the mistletoe and entered side by side with none other than Keith. Pidge was quick to screech at them that they were standing under mistletoe and Lance was fully prepared to give Keith the fastest kiss on the cheek ever when suddenly there were lips against his own. Keith’s lips were slightly chapped, Lance noticed, but not enough to make it uncomfortable. For the most part, he was soft and gentle. The dry spots simply added texture. He tasted nice, this was the next thing Lance noticed. Vaguely like citrus – for whatever reason.

Lance wanted the kiss to continue forever, but then Keith was pulling away and pushing past him to leave the room they had just entered. Lance knew better than to chase after him – he would trip over his words and make everything worse if he tried. Pidge was smirking at him from the couch with and eyebrow raised, so he ruffled her hair as soon as he sat down. Gremlin.

Lance didn’t see Keith until Christmas day, though ‘see’ was an exaggeration. If Keith was looking at Lance – he wasn’t – Lance would never have known since he was very interested in a tiny spot on the floor that was a different colour than the rest of the floor. While everyone opened his gifts – machine sown custom articles of clothing this year thanks to the trip to earth – he simply hummed in response to thanks. One by one everyone finished opening their presents and left until finally, it was just Lance and Keith left, neither having opened their gifts from each other. Lance tentatively looked up towards Keith, glad not to have violet eyes on him as he worked up his courage.

“Wanna... open your present?” he mumbled quietly, flinching when Keith’s gaze finally met his. Keith nodded slowly before reaching for the blue wrapped gift, peeling back the paper slowly and letting out a sharp breath at the contents of the gift. Instead of clothing, like the others, he saw a necklace. It was simple in design, a crystal on the end of plain black rope. The crystal was obviously the centerpiece. It was red from the top, but shifted to a deep blue the further down it got. It was beautiful, but it was risky. Lance watched Keith carefully as he brushed his hand gently over the stone, trying to find any evidence of whether he liked it or not. Keith turned his attention back to Lance and Lance immediately felt his heart drop. Barely there but glistening from the shimmer of the hologram tree, a single tear fell down Keith’s face. Lance moved towards Keith, pulling him into a hug. “I’m sorry if it’s too much,” he started, his words muffled by Keith’s shoulder. “You don’t have to wear it.”

Keith pulled back, his expression clearly one of offense. “Lance,” he said, reaching a hand out to cup Lance’s cheek. “It’s beautiful. I love it,” he finished, stroking Lance’s face gently with his thumb. Lance almost started crying then himself, filled with so much joy that Keith loved the gift.

Keith nodded towards the final gift under the tree, wrapped in red paper. “Your turn,” he said, the corners of his lips turning up into an adorably soft smile. Lance reached over, grabbing the package, gently peeling off the tape and pulling away the paper. Inside was a picture frame, playing home to a detailed pencil sketch of Lance himself. He was smiling wide, probably mid laughter over a stupid joke. In the bottom right-hand corner was a small signature, two flourishing K’s with a line underneath. “You drew this?” Lance asked, his voice airy with disbelief. Keith only nodded, his face starting to turn a bright shade of red Lance had never seen before. “Keith, I – It’s amazing,” he muttered. He looked at Keith for a moment, allowing his blue eyes to meet with the wide violet ones staring back at him. He leaned forwards slowly, being sure to give Keith plenty of time to pull away – he didn’t. Lance gently cupped Keith’s face with his hand, pulling their faces together for a much softer kiss than the one under the mistletoe. Keith hummed happily against him, one hand raising up the hold Lance’s where it sat against his cheek.

The third Christmas was good.

* * *

 

Fourth Christmas

Christmas was Lance’s favourite time of year, mostly because he got to carry around mistletoe and ambush Keith with it whenever he liked. Keith did not object, but Lance pretended that he was an annoyance.

Everyone aboard the castleship had been relieved the Christmas before when they returned to the common room to find Lance and Keith asleep on the floor, hands intertwined. Finally, those pining idiots had figured it out – on Christmas no less. This year… everyone silently wished the pair was still pining. A side of Keith no one had expected had slowly but surely revealed itself – clingy, sappy, lovestruck Keith. It was never a shock to walk into the kitchen to find Lance preparing found with Keith wrapped around him whispering lovingly into his ear. Sure, the team was happy for them, but it was so frequent that it became old fast. Christmas only heightened this. Lance was in Hunk’s room every night for a week, pacing back and forth while he fretted over what to give Keith this year. Keith was more silent in his worries, but the anxiety radiated from him and was felt by everyone.

Shiro saved them both in the end, telling them to just go with what felt right. The stress levels felt by the team immediately dropped and Hunk finally got a good night’s sleep.

Christmas Day was joyful. The hologram tree had become more a tradition than a compromise and everyone gathered around it happily at the ungodly hour Coran woke them all. Lance decided to take a year off from gifting clothing, instead replicating the tiny carving of Keith’s Lion from years ago in the shape of the other Lions – except for Red of course, since Keith already had a carved lion figurine. All the Lion carvings wore tiny Santa hats.

Whether intentionally or not, Lance and Keith were the last with gifts to open – both from each other. The rest of the team shuffled out one by one, citing various reasons for leaving as if they weren’t giving the happy couple privacy. Lance was eternally grateful.

“So, your present is very symbolic since it doesn’t really match the tech on this ship so uh… I’ll explain if you need me to,” he said, reaching back to scratch his neck awkwardly. Keith smiled affectionately before sliding the small box open, staring at the object for a moment before beginning to laugh. His small laughter soon escalated to loud, hysterical laughter and Lance, unaware of why Keith was laughing, panicked. “I’m sorry! I didn’t realize it wasn’t like that for you I just –“ Keith cut Lance off by pushing him to the floor to kiss him hard.

“Lance,” he said, pulling back from the kiss. “I’m not laughing because I don’t like it, I’m laughing because I got you the same thing,” he said, leaning down to pull Lance into another kiss. Lance hummed happily, glad that the symbolic key meant to suggest they officially start living in shared quarters was the right choice.

* * *

 

Fifth Christmas

Something was off about Keith, but Lance couldn’t place what it was. Things were great between them, as always. Sure, they squabbled over who left the lights on or who stole the blankets more, but they were unashamedly in love and it felt great.

And yet, Keith was jittery. All. The. Time. Lance was getting scared – was Keith going to end their relationship? Two years was a lot to just throw away, especially considering the now acknowledged mutual pining that had been going on for quite some time before they got together. Maybe it was just the holiday season approaching. Maybe Keith just couldn’t figure out what to get someone for Christmas.

Lance had gotten Keith something reminiscent of their first Christmas as a couple – the one where they both realized the other also had feelings for them and they made out under the tree for a while before passing out together. The necklace was simpler this time, more elegant. The string was the same smooth black rope material, but the stone was smaller. A little red shard of diamond. It reflected light like nothing else. It looked like fire, and it was just so Keith that Lance couldn’t not give it to him.

Christmas came quickly, and Keith only got more jittery by the day. Lance continued to worry, but he brushed it off as his imagination.

Boy, was he wrong.

It was becoming tradition that he and Keith saved their presents from each other for last, but when it came to the end he only saw the present from him under the tree, nothing from Keith. Was it too big to fit? No, surely Keith would have warned him. Not only that, but the rest of the team was still surrounding the tree unlike previous years.

Keith unwrapped Lance’s present and smiled wide, his face showing all his feelings as the memories of that first good Christmas flooded back. “I love it, Lance. More than you could know,” he said softly, locking Lance’s blue eyes with his own violet ones. Lance couldn’t help but smile back warmly. His smile wavered, however, when Keith stood up and then pulled Lance up with him. “Lance McClain. Once upon a time, I hated Christmas,” he started, holding Lance’s hands in his own. “Then, someone gave me a beautiful rock and I though, maybe Christmas wasn’t so bad,” he continued, stepping back from Lance but keeping their hands clasped. “One year, that same boy gave me a beautiful necklace, but better than that gift he gave me his heart,” Lance trembled slightly, his body reacting before his mind to the situation. He briefly noted that someone was holding up a phone, likely recording, and something clicked around the same time that Keith let go of his hands to descend to one knee. “Lance McClain, you are the greatest gift I have had the honour of receiving. Will you be mine forever?”

Lance threw his arms around Keith’s neck, spilling a chorus of yeses from his mouth.

Christmas was Lance’s favourite time of year.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! You can find me on tumblr @koganey, feel free to send oneshot requests there and watch for updated on any fics im working on!


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